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Perhaps the nation's most fabled jail, the La Santé prison – where former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has started a five-year prison sentence for unlawful collusion to obtain election financing from Libya – is the only remaining prison inside the Paris city limits.

Situated in the south part of Montparnasse area of the capital, it first opened in the year 1867 and was the site of a minimum of 40 executions, the final one in 1972. Partially closed for refurbishment in 2014, the prison resumed operations five years later and holds over 1,100 detainees.

Famous former inmates comprise the poet Guillaume Apollinaire, the rogue trader Jérôme Kerviel, the public servant and Nazi collaborator Maurice Papon, the businessman and politician Bernard Tapie, the militant from the seventies Carlos the Jackal, and modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel.

VIP Quarters for High-Profile Prisoners

Prominent or at-risk detainees are typically accommodated in the jail’s QB4 section for “individuals at risk” – the dubbed “VIP section” – in individual cells, not the standard triple-occupancy cells, and separated during yard time for safety concerns.

Positioned on the first floor, the ward has 19 identical units and a private exercise yard so detainees are not obliged to interact with other detainees – even though they remain vulnerable to calls, jeers and smartphone photos from neighboring units.

Mainly for such concerns, Sarkozy is set to be housed in the solitary confinement unit, which is in a distinct block. Actually, the environment are largely identical as in QB4: the past leader will be solitary in his unit and accompanied by a prison officer each time he leaves it.

“The objective is to avert any incidents whatsoever, so we need to block him from meeting fellow detainees,” an insider stated. “The simplest and best approach is to place Nicolas Sarkozy directly to isolation.”

Living Quarters

Each of the isolation and VIP cells are the same to those elsewhere in the prison, roughly around eleven square meters, with window blinds designed to limit interaction, a bed, a writing table, a shower, toilet, and fixed-line phone with pre-set numbers.

Sarkozy will receive regular meals but will additionally have access to the commissary, where he can acquire groceries to prepare himself, as well as to a private outdoor space, a exercise room and the book collection. He can rent a fridge for €7.50 a monthly and a television for 14.15 euros.

Limited Social Contact

Apart from three permitted visits a per week, he will mostly be alone – a privilege in La Santé, which in spite of its recent upgrades is running at approximately double its designed capacity of 657 detainees. France’s jails are the third most overcrowded in the European Union.

Items Brought

Sarkozy, who has steadfastly protested his non-guilt, has stated he will be taking with him a account of Jesus and a version of The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas, in which an falsely convicted person is given a sentence to prison but escapes to get retribution.

Sarkozy’s attorney, Jean-Michel Darrois, mentioned he was additionally packing earplugs because prison can be noisy at during the night, and a few jumpers, because cells can be cool. Sarkozy has commented he is not scared of serving time in jail and aims to utilize the time to compose a book.

Release Prospects

The duration is unknown, nevertheless, how long he will actually be housed in La Santé: his lawyers have submitted for his conditional release, and an judge on appeal will must establish a chance of escaping, reoffending or influencing testimony to warrant his ongoing incarceration.

French jurists have proposed he might be released within a month.